... and Japan could not avoid western encroachment. Opium was seen as a solution for Europeans, who were losing precious metals to the East during the eighteenth century from purchasing thier fine wares and tea.(Courtwright, 2000 p.167) Like sugar and tabacco before it, opium made the transition from an exotic chemical to a "capitalist" drug commodity. "The commodification of the drug trades in tabacco, sugar and tea, were major factors in the earlier stages of capitalist development. These drugs turned the European peasants and urban masses into a consumer-proletariat while they fattened the local bourgeoisie. Opium had a similar impact on Asia." (Trocki, 1999 p.33) 46 Europeans focused on China due to its large population, a potential mass market for the drug. (Fitzgerald, 1966 p.93 & Trocki, 1999 p.58) Administration was spread thinly across China's large empire. Traditionally government and ruling class lived of the peasantry. Trade was agrigarian. Institutionalised corruption of ...

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